In this lesson we will discuss the story of  The Three Little Pigs and the types of houses that they built.  Which ones were stronger and why?   How do people protect themselves?  In Ancient China they used a wall. Did that wall protect them?  How?  What are other ways people protect themselves?  In today’s world we need to protect ourselves using strong passwords.  How do we make a strong password?  Today you will build a strong password.  Then you will build a great wall that is as strong as the password that you created!

Can you see how far you can catapult a Pom Pom? I want to see! We are going to be building a catapult from scratch. Your goal is to see if you can catapult your Pom Pom at least 3 feet. 

This is a whole classroom collaborative process with the goal of creating a school-wide lunch waste composting program.  The lesson relates the collaborative and iterative processes used in science to computer science.

This lesson is designed to help students pay attention to characteristics of people and of objects.  Students wil learn about the uniforms and equipment used by community helpers and about sorting objects by their characteristics. 

Students will classify random animals based on each animal's attributes. They will get to investigate the physical characteristics of each animal during this hands-on sorting activity. Students will strengthen their ability to categorize and classify. 

Compare architecture of three different civilizations by visiting the Great Wall in China, pyramids in Egypt, and the Parthenon in Greece and discuss how these visits are so different from our ability to compare them 3 decades ago when technology wasn’t as advanced.

Students are taking everyday items, describing them, and using the proportions and conversion factors they will create a 3d model to replicate their description and create a 3d printed version. 

Let’s learn circuit knowledge while playing!  Students will have access to a variety of electronic components (kits) to design, assemble and troubleshoot different types of circuit designs.  Will you sound a horn, blow a small fan, operate a speaker or make a traffic light?  The possibilities are endless! 

Using microbits have students write a simple code and then debug a similar one.  Then compare that to  editing their writing.

Your opinion matters! You have a responsibility to your classroom to help make decisions through the process of voting. You will make predictions, collect data, and organize data while casting your vote.

Students will explore old and new ways to communicate information across long distances.  This lesson includes information on the Virtual Education Programs available through the National Park system.

Let’s learn about community helpers!  What do you want to be when you grow up?  A farmer, police officer, teacher, librarian, doctor…?

This activity supports student knowledge of community and story telling.  Students also build map skills and coding skills as they use the robot to act out the story.  Basic block coding skills can be taught as part of the lesson or prior to the lesson. 

 This is a two day lesson. The first day is a lesson about the history of computers. The students will look at pictures of past computers, computers of today and then discuss what they think the computers of the future will be like.The second day, the students will be looking at components of computers with several fun and exciting stations to help them learn the names of the components (parts and types) of computers such as, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablets, mouse, CPU,  printer, etc.  

Students will learn about abstraction by looking at a built model computer and then breaking solving a system of equations down into simple components.

Students will experiment by comparing the leg and arm lengths of the students in the class.  They will create a Google Form and use it to record the data that they collect.  They will use the spreadsheet created by the form to analyze the data and create charts and graphs. Students will then draw conclusions and make predictions based on their data.

Students will explore sequencing (including ordinal numbers); and simple loops (patterns and repetition) using the pea plant life cycle. This is a hands-on learning opportunity for students to investigate the algorithms in the natural world around us. Students will gain insight into loop, repeating, and sequence patterns, they will also debug and brainstorm what to do if the pattern is broken. 

In this activity, your students will learn about algorithms and use robots to practice their map skills as they explore the geographic features found in each continent!  Working in small groups students will program Root robots to “travel” to each continent.  Once there, they will be introduced to the major rivers and mountain ranges using photographs!  In other stations, students will put together a world map floor puzzle and work on their Chromebook to correctly sort landforms into their locations. 

Students will explore how to classify and sort animals by different characteristics and attributes like their body coverings.  Using an animal template provided and fun craft supplies like pasta shells, textured fabric, sequins, and cotton balls, students will create their own animal body covering models.  This engaging hands-on learning experience mixes computer science, art, and life science all in one lesson to get your students excited about learning!

The goals of the unit are to teach the students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators on a final group project (The Rube Goldberg Challenge). Students will learn about STEM, simple machines, coding, problem solving and working together as a collaborating team throughout this unit. Students will do some simple coding with the Sphero RvR Robots so that they understand how hardware and software work and will code a task that will be used as part of their Rube Goldberg Machine.